The grandson of Hank Williams and the son of Hank Jr. falls in line with the other country artists covered in Saving Country Music “10 Badass Moments” series by being a rough and tumble character both on and off the stage, but also in showing great character by giving back and using his famous name for good.

Here’s 10 Badass Moments from Shelton Hank Williams III, or Hank3.

1. Playing Charity Concerts for Homes For Our Troops

When you heard that The Marines had been called to the Hank3 concert at The Meridian in Houston, TX in March of 2010, you could only expect the worst. After all, the son of Hank has been known to throw some pretty rowdy shows. But the occasion that called for a military dispatch including a Marine Color Guard was not an unruly crowd. It was meant to honor Hank3 for donating all the proceeds from the concert to the charity Homes For Our Troops that provides housing to wounded veterans. And this wouldn’t be the last time. Hank3 has also done other charity shows for Homes For Our Troops, as well as animal rescue organizations (see below).

Pretty cool moment before The Meridian show:

2. Playing For 5 Straight Hours at The Valarium in Knoxville

Hank3 is known for his long, sometimes 3-hour+ shows with only a 5 to 10 minute break between his country and his punk/metal lineups, but this particular set was one for the record books.

Exactly what happened at The Valarium in Knoxville, TN on July 15th, 2009 that stimulated Hank3’s marathon, 5-hour set depends on who you talk to. But when Hank’s manager, assistant manager, and five other people were arrested for “disorderly conduct,” Hank3 felt the best way to protest the injustice was by playing one of the longest sets in the history of country music. Without any break, Hank3 held forth with his “Damn Band” staring at 10:00 PM Wednesday night, and the music didn’t stop until almost 3 AM Thursday morning. When Hank3 ran out of material with his band, he switched to an acoustic show and kept on going.

The show went so long, an after party at the adjacent Cider House featuring the local band J.C. and the Dirty Smokers didn’t start until 2 AM, and nobody was there. “Basically, I said, ‘Since we’re already set up and already have a stage, we might as well work on a couple of originals,” Dirty Smokers frontman J.C. Haun said at the time. “So we ended up having a rehearsal, basically.”

And as if Hank3 hadn’t already done enough, he called Valarium owner Gary Mitchell after the show to apologize for not playing the Assjack metal portion of the show. “He felt like he’d stiffed his hardcore fans,”Mitchell told the Metro Pulse.

3. Playing Charity Concerts for Animal Rescue

For years Hank3 has been playing charity concerts to benefit animal shelters in his home of middle Tennessee. “We are thrilled that Hank3 would support our mission,” says Kat Hitchcock, who has worked with numerous animal shelters in the area. “He doesn’t just support it, he lives it. He is a genuine advocate for animal welfare. We are extremely fortunate. We can’t thank him enough.”

The 4th show Hank3 played to benefit Happy Tails Humane in Franklin, TN was on August 3rd, 2012 at the Marathon Music Works in Nashville, and raised a whopping $18,000 for the organization. A DVD was also made of the event, and you can watch the entire footage of the concert below:

4. Taking In Stray / Abandoned Animals

Beyond throwing benefit concerts over the years for animal rescue, Hank3 has been known to pull his tour bus over to check on stray animals, and take them in if the proper owner can’t be found, or use his famous name to help find the furry friends a new home. Hank3 goes beyond the call for animals, and over the years it has become his pet issue (arf arf). Check out this PSA he made a couple of years back.

5. The “Fuck Curb” Campaign

Hank3”²s entire 14-year career with Curb Records was filled with turmoil. The first major conflict arose over an album called This Ain’t Country. Hank3 turned it into Curb, just to have Mike Curb deem it was not fit for release. Curb shelved the album, and then released it after Shelton left the label and after he’d fulfilled his contractual obligation for the number of releases. It was a way for Curb to squeeze another album out of Hank3”²s contract.

Hank3”²s 3rd album Thrown Out of the Bar was slated to be released in late 2004, but Curb refused to issue it. This prompted Hank3 to start a “Fuck Curb” campaign that included T-Shirts, stickers, and the words “Fuck Curb” written prominently on Hank3”²s guitar. Hank3 also took Curb to court, and like so many other artists with Mike Curb grievances, the court found in favor of Hank3 and made Curb issue the album that was later reworked into the album Straight to Hell. Curb also delayed the release of Hank3”²s 4th album Damn Right, Rebel Proud for undetermined reasons, and since Hank had signed a non-defamation clause to his contract to get Straight to Hell released, he couldn’t even speak out against Curb’s actions.

At the time Hank3 was seen as a foul-mouthed yob. But since then, public issues arising with Curb Records and many of its artists, especially Tim McGraw, shows that Hank3 was ahead of his time, and that his salty language was warranted.

6. Including Three Songs by Wayne “The Train” Hancock On His First Record

On Hank3’s first solo record Risin’ Outlaw from 1999, he included 3 songs from one of his early mentors and heroes, Texas singer-songwriter and the King of Juke Joint Swing, Wayne “The Train” Hancock. By including “87 Southbound,” “Thunderstorms & Neon Signs,” and “Why Don’t You Leave Me Alone,” it introduced Wayne Hancock to a whole new generation, and a whole new segment of fans. It also would help Wayne with what songwriters call “mailbox money”—royalties from song credits—for years to come.

7. Calling Out Kid Rock

In his song “Not Everybody Likes Us” from the album Straight to Hell, Hank3 calls out Kid Rock, saying:

And just so you know, so it’s set in stone, Kid Rock don’t come from where I come from.Yeah it’s true he’s a Yank, he ain’t no son of Hank, and if you though so goddamn you’re fuckin’ dumb.

The anger was stimulated when Hank3’s father, Hank William Jr., began to refer to Kid Rock as his “Rebel Son” around 2002. At the time, Kid Rock and Hank Jr. were collaborating together on music. The “Rebel Son” talk stimulated rumors that Kid Rock truly was another son of Hank Jr., and Hank3 got tired of answering the rumors. It all boiled over one night at a show in Kid Rock’s home of Detroit when Kid Rock and his fling at the time Pamela Anderson tried to board Hank3’s bus to patch things up between Hank3 and Hank Jr.

Hank3 told Blender Magazine in 2006:

…he kept trying to come on the bus—you know, him and Pam [Anderson] and all that shit —and I said, “Tell that motherfucker I got nothing to say to him,” and then he finally gets his way back in there and tells me how I need to be treating my father and I’m like, “All right, you just crossed the line motherfucker.” And I don’t know how many times I have to say it: “No, he’s not my fucking brother…

8. Recording The Album Straight to Hell DIY Style

Considered Hank3’s opus, Straight to Hell released in February of 2006 was recorded on a $400 consumer-grade Korg D-1600 machine in Hank3’s steel guitar player’s house. It was the first true DIY recording made outside of the conventional studio setting to ever be released through a country music major label and the Country Music Association. It was also the first album to be put out through the CMA with a Parental Advisory sticker.

The point was not just for Hank3 to gain control of his own music, but to inspire a generation of new artists to do the same thing, to see that they didn’t need to sign big deals and have lots of money to make and release music. And that’s exactly what it did.

9. Standing Up to the Grand Ole Opry

For years Hank3 has been trying to get The Grand Ole Opry to show respects to his grandfather by reinstating him into the institution he loved so dearly. Hank Williams was kicked out of the Opry for drunkenness and missing rehearsals with the idea that once he sobered up, he could be reinstated. Unfortunately Hank Williams never got that opportunity. He died on New Years Day, 1953 as an ostracized member of the institution he helped bring to prominence. All Hank3 is asking is a symbolic gesture be made to the legacy of Hank Williams by reinstating him to the Grand Ole Opry, also known as Reinstate Hank. The issue has also come to symbolize the fight to keep the purity of The Grand Ole Opry institution alive.

10. Shaking Every Hand And Signing Every Album After Shows

This may not sound like some altruistic task for some artists whose shows stretch to top 75 attendees, but when you’re constantly selling out concerts with hundreds of tickets sold, and every one of those people wants to meet you, this simple gesture has become one of Hank3 signature symbols of showing how he’s willing to go the extra mile for his fans, sometimes patiently spending many hours after two and three hour performances to shake hands, sign autographs, and take pictures.

BONUS – 11. Playing Bass for Phil Anselmo’s Superjoint Ritual

Showing that the show didn’t need to be all about him, while Hank3 was fighting with Curb Records and trying to get his album This Ain’t Country released, he took his friend Phil Anselmo—the former lead singer of Pantera—up on the offer to join his band Superjoint Ritual on bass. Between 2002 and 2004, Hank3 could be seen banging his head on stage as a side man in concerts across the country. When Superjoint Ritual shut down around 2004 and Hank3 returned to the country world and released the album Straight to Hell, he showed legions of punk and heavy metal fans the virtues of traditional country music and created many country music converts.

I would add to the list that Shelton has borrowed a page from the Grateful Dead by permiting his fans to record his shows and to post them on Archive.org/Live Music, which probably has around 125 of his shows on it by now.

Thanks Trigger! That was pretty awesome! I’ve never heard of Wayne Hancock prior to Hank3. Hank was a good thing for him and he was a good thing for Hank3. I would like to see a Waylan and Willie relationship with those two.

Cool article. Hank3 is the man. I thought his four straight hours in Spokane last fall was unreal… Also, I love his new album. I love that he typically covers a song by an artist that isn’t well known on his albums. I loved that he let Ray Lawrence Jr. sing on GTAG and titled the songs with Ray’s name. Hank3 is awesome.

Trigger, I don’t know what you have in the works, but I hope you will add similar posts on Hank Jr. and Merle Haggard. I don’t think Junior gets a ton of attention on this site and that is understandable given his output and activities over the past decade but back in the 70’s and 80’s the guy was awesome (Dinosaur! Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound!). He fell 500 feet off a mountain for crying out loud. What is more badass than that? Well, maybe turning 21 in prison and running a distillery while in the joint.

I’ll definitely be doing more of these, but I’m gonna try to keep everyone on their toes, including myself, on who I might profile next. Seems like it would be more fun that way 😉 . I’m sure it will come around to Merle and Hank Jr. eventually.

Great article love me some Hank III. If these type of feautures are going to come regulary at some point a article on Jerry Jeff Walker would be entertaining JJW is legendary for his on and off stage exploits

A big hell yeah on JJW. Hell, aside from an article like that, I’d really like to see some sort of essay devoted to Jerry Jeff, Townes and Guy when they were best friends sharing stages in Houston, in the Sixties. There’s a lot of history there that hasn’t really been chronicled here or anywhere.

I’ve been a casual fan of Shelton’s for years and I always knew he was a standup guy. My ex drummer worked sound for him back in the day and had tons of cool stories, but this article REALLY makes me respect him tons more, learning all the things he does for our animal friends.

Trigger, what album was [i]This Ain’t Country[/i] eventually released as? I couldn’t find it for sale under that title.

And this might seem like a stupid question, but I assure you that it’s only out of curiosity: why do you like Hank3 so much? I appreciate his contributions to country music as much as the next guy, but the fact that he also makes punk albums bugs me for some reason. Granted, I freely admit that I haven’t really listened to any of his material as of yet, despite the copy of [i]Straight to Hell[/i] I bought in December sitting in my “listen to” pile.

By the way, Trig, what do you think of Rebel Son? Maybe I’m uninformed, but they seem like a likely candidate for one of these articles (though they’re basically a parody of themselves). Oh, and feel free to delete the comments where I was attempting to figure out the italics formatting options.

I wouldn’t characterize that I “love Hank3 so much,” but since this website started as a blog called “Free Hank III,” I feel it is important to honor the roots of the site by continuing to cover him, regardless of where the focus of this site may go, or the focus of Hank3’s music may go. I’ve never covered or written a review for any of his exclusively-punk albums.

It also happens to be that he makes a great name for this feature. Though he may not have the money of Taylor Swift, per capita I would bet Hank3 does more for charity that the vast majority of country artists. He also has a ‘rough” personality, and that is sort of the spirit of this idea is to show both sides of these artists.

I understand the nature of the site and wasn’t criticizing at all. All faucets of quality country music are covered here as far as I can tell and that’s the way it should be. However, are you disappointed with III’s recent musical endeavors? You seem a tad more critical of him now than you seemed in your older articles.

All I really could do would be to refer you to my latest reviews of his albums where I cover this subject pretty in-depth. I do think that Hank3 is selling himself and his fans short to some extent these days, but I don’t think that is a good reason to discount all of his music, especially the music he put out early in his career, or all the other things he has done off the stage.

Why is not letting Kid Rock on his bus badass? It’s actually really petty and childish. Hank3 is a yankee too, and couldn’t sing his way out of a paper bag. Why am I, as a traditional Country Music fan, supposed to like Hank3? Because he sounds like a degenerate inbred with that fake accent he sings with, in a feeble attempt to emulate his grandpa? I don’t think so. This guy couldn’t be a wart on his Dad’s ass as a singer; or Kid Rock’s ass for that matter.

Nobody is saying you’re “supposed” to like Hank3. If you don’t like him, that’s totally your prerogative and I completely respect and understand that taking into consideration the strange turn his career took a few years ago. At the same time, I would think most traditional country fans could still enjoy his first few records, or at least acknowledge some of the cool things he’s done off the stage, and that is all this was about.

He was born in Nashville, where he currently resides. If his parents didn’t split up, he might never have left.

I guess you’re referring to the time he spent in Jane, Missouri, where his mother was from. I googled Jane, MO and apparently it is within a mile of the Arkansas border. Then of course, there’s Missouri’s history with respect to the Civil War (slave border state, tens of thousands fought for the Confederacy, guerrilla war).

You sure have some extremist notions of what a Yankee is. I guess Bill Monroe is also a Yankee and bluegrass music is Yankee music.

And a mile south of the Rio Grande is still Mexico. But yes, I thought he grew up in Missouri. And yes, Bill Monroe, Loretta Lynn, and Dwight Yoakam are Yankees. And Bluegrass is originally Yankee music, but I never said Yankees are bad. I just said Hank3 is a hypocrite because I thought he was born and raised in Missouri and seems to have a problem with Yankees.
By the way, I love Bluegrass. It’s the best music Yankees ever made.

Clint, it is obvious that you are simply trying to provoke Hank 3’s fans. I suppose I am no bigger than you because I am biting. First of all, if Hank is a Yankee, so what, how would that make a difference? Second of all, how could you make an accusation like that where the evidence that he is not a Yank is so overwhelming? Third of all, Trigger’s written about so many interesting country music artist, I can hardly keep up with him, so why would you click on someone you feel have no talent and cannot sing. Whenever Trigger writes about people I am already familiar with and who I feel have no talent, I simply do not read those articles. Fourthly, even in his younger days, Hank3 has always been first and foremost a gentleman, (maybe not in his music, but when he meets people) that is unless he is provoked. Then, yeah it is true that where some people might back down, he won’t. As for Kid Rock, I would say Hank was angrier with his father for a few reasons, one, for calling Kid Rock his son, for making a song with Kid Rock, a song that serves to discredit Hank 3, his real son — and perhaps a few other reasons that undoubtedly Kid Rock should have known. Kid Rock was inconsequential. Instead of Kid Rock respecting the fact that something is going on in the family that is none of his business, he chose to get involved. You don’t do that with anyone you”™re not intimately familiar with, let alone someone like Hank 3. Simply put, the bullets flying was really between Hank Jr. and Hank 3, Kid Rock was simply too stupid to get out of the line of fire.

I’m not trying to provoke anybody. I’m just giving an opinion; like everyone else. Hank3 is not from one of the eleven states that made up the Confederacy. It matters because he criticized Kid Rock for being a Yankee. He’s a hypocrite.
I like this site, so I read every article. I guess I decided to leave a comment because I’m sick and tired. I’m hate pop country like most on here. But I’m equally as sick of all the imitators and outsiders that have been trotted out as traditional Country artists over the last 20 years(Br549, Wayne Hancock, Hank3, Daniel Romano and virtually the entire underground Country movement). Just because you discover Country music in college and can sing through your nose with put-on twang, doesn’t mean you’re a Country singer. The Harvard boy Gram Parsons also falls into this category. Even Sturgill Simpson is merely a cheap imitation of a Waylon Jennings impersonator. Jamey Johnson’s band rocks out like a heavy metal band in his live shows. Sadly, most of the real country boys(i.e. Luke Bryan, Justin Moore)are singing pop country trash; while traditional Country music is performed by posers like Daniel Romano. And one of the biggest jokes to my Country Music-loving ears, is Kacey Musgraves. Why is she Country? Because she writes? Really?
Country music as a popular style, is dead. And it’s not coming back. Now excuse me, I’m going to go listen to my Vernon Oxford cd’s.

Well, as long as it is simply an opinion and there is no maliciousness attached to it, we’re good. I am not informed enough about the confederate states to defend Hank 3. He was born in Tennessee, lived there most of his life, lived in Charlotte, NC a few years. In my mind you don’t get more country than that. But, I don’t even wish for a discussion to be ensued on that. I don’t sense that Hank3 meant it as an insult when he called Kid Rock a Yank, he was simply trying to establish the unlikeliness of them being related. One thing I’ve learned about southern people since moving to the south, is that they are not as open as us northerners, a fact that Kid Rock appeared to have learned the hard way.

“One thing I”™ve learned about southern people since moving to the south, is that they are not as open as us northerners, a fact that Kid Rock appeared to have learned the hard way. ”

I’m a northerner as well and I don’t know that I agree with that statement with respect to what allegedly transpired between Hank3 and Kid Rock. There was a time when I had some issues with my Dad and if someone that I didn’t know very well tried to lecture me on how I should interact with my father, I know I would have resented it DEEPLY.

The issue goes much deeper than that, specifically the urban myth that Kid Rock was really Hank Jr.’s son, and Kid Rock getting in Hank3’s face and telling him how to treat his father. You still may hate him, but let’s not oversimplify the issue.

I agree. Hank Jr. wasn’t around when Hank 3 was growing up. Contrary to popular belief Hank 3 didn’t grow up wealthy either. He is cocky and sometimes arrogant . So was his Grandfather. When you have a guy that donates the proceeds from his shows to the troops and pulls his tour bus over to pick up stray and abandoned animals and had the courage to admit he was molested by one of his mother’s family members, which could give other victims strength and inspiration. I see a man that has been through hell and back but still has a heart of gold !